Thursday, December 30, 2010

Hi! I’m Sherry and as a new member of The Pyrex Collective, I thought I would share with you a piece of Pyrex that I found just yesterday at a local thrift store.

It is a 1-1/2 quart divided Cinderella oval casserole. I was thrilled that it was in great shape and that it came with a lid. Having never seen this pattern before, I flipped through my copy of Barbara Mauzy’s book on Pyrex but it wasn’t there. Then I checked the PyreXFiles and found that it was a 1961 promotional piece called Royal Wheat.

While searching for the identity of this casserole, I found that I have several other promotional pieces, but I’ll post about them later after I get some decent pictures. If you would like to read about other vintage items I’ve found, including Pyrex, please visit my blog, Back 2 Vintage.

The knowledge of the followers of The Collective is amazing and your enthusiasm is addictive. I look forward to learning from each of you and sharing my finds.

One of the presents waiting for me under the Christmas tree from Mr. SixBalloons was... drumroll... A Pyrex Promotional Dandelion Divided Dish!

Love the wispy thistles and random-ish pattern. I feel so lucky to have this piece and can't believe it is from 1959! I promise to be very careful with this dish but I am definitely going to put it to use. Too pretty to be put away, don't you think?

If you're interested in more photos of this piece and how much Santa paid for it, I've got more details at my full post here!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Hello~I'm Ellen, a new contributor to The Collective, and I thought I'd introduce myself through a story of a unique find.

My creative or thrify DIY suggestions are posted on my blog "Within My Means." I thrift weekly in my neighborhood in Los Angeles, either to keep for myself, give as gifts, or often to list on my Etsy shop. I keep a keen eye for promotionals, or brightly colored, popular patterns. I was ecstatic when I came across this huge 2.5 L Cinderella Casserole dish because though an avid reader of a few blogs devoted to Pyrex, I'd never seen this pattern.

I rushed home not only to clean the dish to confirm its perfect condition, but to scour the net for reference sources like Pyrex Love and The Pyrex Files to no avail.

The design's motifs suggested a Southwestern theme to me, so I thought it was likely a more recent piece.

And I was So excited with the perfect condition of the piece, inside and out.

When I posted a few shots on the Pyrex Love group on Flickr I got some feedback on the etymology of my new find. But I was new to Flickr, and my preferences weren't set optimally, so I didn't see the comments on my photos until just recently.

The biggest surprise was that this 475-B casserole came with a bamboo or wicker holder! I probably lifted this dish out of its holder off the shelf, not knowing Pyrex ever issued something other than the common metal cradles. While I now have a name, Orange Ginger Oriental, I still don't know what year this was issued, or for sure that it's a Promotional piece.

Can anyone fill in a little more information on this piece?

The most awesome helper of all time? My puppy, Chance, was seeking attention and trying to burrow under my backdrop-blanket as I was trying to take these photos on our couch. Guess who was encroaching on whom?

The pattern in my kitchen is Autumn Harvest. It's 1980's, a bit less vintage than the most popular designs. But its fall color palette fits me. I'm also mad for any Christmas or holiday pattern.

The resources available when I need to do a little research have really opened up to me through this blog and the Flickr groups. I look forward to learning more from each other and sharing my finds! What Pyrex pages do you follow on Facebook, and do you find them useful? Please let me know in a blog comment.

I'm drooling over the Pyrex Christmas booty below. Way to go! I thought I'd share the piece I got for Christmas because my 12-year-old niece knew I collected Pyrex, found this Friendship dish at a thrift store, recognized it as Pyrex and paid for it out of her own pocket. I don't have this piece, either. Good going, Eden.

P.S. My family is on board for tracking down Pyrex for me (either as a gift or to be reimbursed for later). Does anyone have any ideas on how to document one's Pyrex collection in a way that others could see what you have already and what you need? I was wondering about taking a few shots of the pieces I have and giving them to family members in one of those mini "bragging" photo albums you're supposed to use for baby pictures. I see the implications here. "Hmm, you don't have any pictures of your grandchild, but you've got a photo album filled with Pyrex pictures. You should talk to your daughter."

Chime in. To be honest, I sometimes forget what I've got - and my collection is fairly modest.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

I sure hope every Collective follower received at least one piece of Pyrex for Christmas! My Christmas was Pyrex Perfect - Spring Blossom Refrigerator Set from my husband - I was so surprised and if that wasn't enough, he also gave me - 2 Butterfly Gold Cinderella Bowls. And, then, I had the Barbed Wire divided dish and lemonade carafe from my daughter, Carla - I wanted the Barbed Wire and now I've got a piece!! I am so lucky!! Love it all!!

Last night was game night - made a hot crab dip and used my Verde divided dish - one side for dip, one side for chips - first time used - will use again!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

and as if i didn't already know how much i loved him and his family... after spending Christmas with them, i KNEW they were my new family because:

they served Christmas dinner on pyrex!! and if that isn't reason enough to love them... his grandma saw my excitement over her collection and sent me home with this little beauty:it was the merriest Christmas of all!!! (with many more to come)

I've added another piece to my collection of promotional pieces! Promotional pieces are my favorite to collect. There may not be a series of them like you would find with Butterprint or Spring Blossom, but I like that they are unique, and were only available for a limited time.

My newest promotional find is this 1 1/2 quart Regency casserole. The Regency promotional pattern dates to Fall 1965. It's another find off of the big auction site. $3.99 plus shipping. I was pleased. Also, I think that with it's brown paint with the caramel color print, it looks pretty good with my vintage sofa!

The 2 Snowflake Blue casseroles were found by me today at the Goodwill near my parents' house. I was so excited, I immediately picked them up and started running around the store to tell my family of my find. Why is it that the thrift stores near you never have what you're looking for, but you travel and THEN find the good stuff??

Now, the trick will be figuring how to get these guys carefully on the plane from Texas back to Tennessee. Any pyrex travelling tricks?

They state that they have used the same soda lime glass for the past 60 years at the same factory in Pennsylvania. It isn't anything new. They DO give tips for how to prevent their products from shattering due to thermal shock, so please review them for your own safety. They go beyond anything else we've seen about protecting ourselves from what can be a horrifying situation with four simple rules. There are a couple that I've been breaking and I will change my ways immediately! (No metal trivets...... really? I've cooled my bread that way for 50 years!) I'd paste them in here, but Blogger won't let me paste, so go see it all for yourself. Some may surprise you as much as they did me!

We all love our Pyrex (and I love my Corningware products just as much!) and want to protect it and ourselves. I shudder to think of a piece shattering with a child in the kitchen, so please, follow their advice for staying safe and enjoying your beautiful Pyrex.

Friday, December 24, 2010

I pulled out a little Pyrex when doing my holiday baking this season! This lovely plate is from the Friendship Promotional Casserole! I made little snow bunny Christmas cookies in honor of my bunny, George!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Don't get me wrong, I love the Pyrex I find in thrift stores at great prices. But I really want to build a collection of turquoise pieces and, while I sometimes find a stray Butterprint here and there at thrift stores and estate sales, a turquoise Pyrexic cannot live on Butterprint alone. So, when I found this lovely Embroidery promotional cinderella bowl at this great Etsy shop, I added it to my favorites. But, at $23, I just wasn't convinced I couldn't live without it. Then, an amazing thing happened. It went on sale for 50% OFF! I pounced. I figured it would be my Christmas gift to myself. It arrived today and it is gorgeous! I love it so much. The light in the picture doesn't do the color justice, but I just couldn't wait for the sun to come up to share it with all of you :)

Hi, all! I've been following this blog for a while now and finally joined the collective yesterday. I'm a writer and editor and crafter and craft show organizer living in Cincinnati, which gives me great access to rural areas for thrifting.

My Pyrex obsession began when a good friend of mine was always coming up with amazing thrifted finds. I bought my first bowls a little more than a year ago at prices I'd now turn up my nose at. (But the colors were just too gorgeous to pass them up!)

Got these three in Indiana (my favorite place to thrift) for $30 total.

Since then, I've become much more thrifty. My best score to date was this haul from a local Goodwill:

I think a restaurant had gone out of business and was just getting rid of all its dishware. Total for all these dishes: $41. Incredible, right? I especially love the yellow bowls -- they're just the right size for a big salad. But I learned the hard way to not leave a freshly washed bowl near the edge of the counter where someone (i.e. me) could knock it on the floor...

Oh, the horror! And this happened close to midnight -- not a time when you want to be picking up big sharp glass pieces, vacuuming up the smaller bits and then going over the whole kitchen with wet paper towels because there are still glass shards sticking to the floor (while trying to keep the cat out of the kitchen).

I saved the big pieces of glass -- I'm hoping they could be turned into a mosaic or jewelry or something. I do have the bowl's twin, still, safe and sound in my cabinet. Pour one out for my Pyrex, y'all.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Two weeks ago I was hunting through an antique mall and came across the 2 1/2 QT Black Snowflake casserole. It was 17 bucks (on sale with no lid!) and the bottom was super scratched up and chipped, so I reluctantly put it back. Serendipity was on my side becase three days later I walk into my favorite thrift shop (The Arc, Tempe, AZ) and BAM! I snatched this baby up for four bucks. It didn't have a lid, but since I pick up random pyrex lids whenever I see them, I had a spare. I was so, so happy!

The story gets better! Two days after I score the oval casserole - I'm in a different thrift shop across town and I spot this 2 QT casserole in Black Snowflake! This one had a lid and set me back 8 clams, but I was so excited, I'd have paid anything really. Well, not anything, but a lot!

Here is the pair together - all ready to spread some happy holiday cheer!

1. To wish everyone who contributes and reads the Pyrex Collective a Merry Christmas or restful holiday if you don't celebrate Christmas. This blog is a joy to read. I really don't do much. I am a mere conduit from which the Pyrex goodness floweth. On that note, members, do let me know if there are things you'd like to add to the blog. Between Jeni and I, we may have time to actually do it over the holidays.

2. I'm going to list the beginning characters of some emails from people who wished to join the Pyrex Collective, but haven't accepted Blogger's invite, yet. I'm doing this because I may have made a mistake when I entered the email address and apparently the invitation does eventually expire. Those Blogger people!

Anyway, get your butt in gear if you haven't responded (that's me cracking the whip, polite, Canadian style). You know I love you.

Here are the Pyrex kin folk:

jchab

sarah@geek

sondi

esther.

anita

cherrym

Here's me about to partake in a coffee ceremony at an Ethiopian restaurant last spring. See, I'm not just an enigma. Sadly, there was no Pyrex on the table, but they do serve popcorn with their coffee. Good Kwanzaa!

My goal is to complete my Woodland fridge set. Yes, I once said that I thought Woodland was ugly. But it has grown on me :) Do you participate in this flicker group? I think it's such a great idea. Hope I get some bites on my pieces!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Well, it wasn't really bring your Pyrex to work day, but could you imagine that?? Desks adorned with colourful Pyrex would certainly pretty up any office and improve workplace morale in my opinion! I most certainly enjoyed seeing this dish on my own desk all day yesterday. Is it wrong that I left it on my desk all day AGAIN today...empty?

Does anyone else gawk at their own Pyrex and get all happy inside, even months after you bought it? This piece was one found in my all time greatest Pyrex day ever and this is the first time I've actually 'used' it (unless you count the gawking of course).

Here's a pic of what was in it...soft gingerbread sandwiches with Oreo cookie filling.

Wishing you all a happy holiday season with lotsa goodies in your Pyrex!

Monday, December 20, 2010

This post is going to seem rather ho-hum after reading about enchanted fridgies and rare Pyrex that I can only dream about. Thing is, it's been such a long time since I've been able to find ANY Pyrex that doesn't look like it's been dragged through a sandpaper factory. Basically I'd resigned myself to being a Pyrex Square Peg until I get some serious eBay money together. That is until today.

Butterfly Gold 2 - It may not be rare and unusual, but I still love it. Butterfly Gold, you're the bowl, the bowl with the magic touch!

If you read my blog, you'll know that I've been on a down-with-Value-Village-and-their-senseless-nonsense-pricing-policy-I'm-mad-as-heck-and-I'm-not-going-to-take-it-anymore.

Well, today I was reminded that good deeds are rewarded sometimes. At my school, some teachers had packed off for the holiday on Friday with rooms and hallway bulletin boards in various states of disaster. Well, being the trooper without a social life that I am, I went in today to carry on levelling my books and setting up the Pioneer interest table. I know, I know. As you can imagine, the school was a ghost town. But my room will be ready to rock when I come back and I can be all lah-di-dah watching everyone scramble for the photocopier.

When the janitors booted me out at 2 p.m., I chugged up to the Value Village near my school. Of course, all that was there in the way of Pyrex, were the dishwasher faded casserole dishes that had been sitting there for weeks. I picked up a couple of things for my class and was just getting ready to go when I heard the magical clinking sound of glassware being carted through the store. I could hear it getting closer. I thought I'd just play it cool.

My head turned around, almost in slow motion like in the movies. Too bad a fan wasn't blowing my hair around. It was then that I spied this medium-sized Butterfly Gold 2 mixing bowl on the cart. I've never seen this happen before, but people came out of nowhere and ambushed the cart. I thought the Value Village clerk was going to tell people to buzz off until she could shelve everything, but she didn't. That was my sign to swoop down and grab my baby. I was prepared to use physical violence if anyone touched my bowl. It was mine. And in true Value Village puzzling pricing, I got it for $3.99 plus 30% off because of my stamped discount card. Sweet.I was so happy, that I even picked up this small Pyrex measuring cup. So what if it doesn't have metric measurements on it. It's still a classic.

I just wanted to share some cute refrigerator dishes that I found recently. The cute small round casserole dish with lid is my first pink piece, and I was really surprised to find the red fridgie in such great condition. I also really love the blue loaf pan's size and colour, so I was happy to stumble upon this "duplicate" for my collection.

I'm looking forward to having some time off next week... Merry Christmas to you all if I don't have anything else to share before then!

Friday, December 17, 2010

One more aqua piece has landed in my grubby hands. I got this for a deal on ebay and it was insanely well packaged. The lid has a lot of caked on debris which I have been going at with toothpicks (it really works).

My goal next is the tiny fridgies, the loaf pan/fridgie, the cinderella bowl, the round cake pan and the pie pan...phew...that's it for aqua isn't it?

I'm moving soon and I can't wait to display all this in my new kitchen!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

I recently picked up this blue with gold floral pattern 1 1/2 quart casserole (complete with carrier!) on the big auction site. I couldn't help it. When I saw that rich blue color, I was hooked. It has got the be the most pristine piece in my collection. There isn't even the tiniest scratch in the blue, and the gold printing is flawless. If this was ever used, it was handled extremely carefully. I'm thinking that this piece was probably a promotional piece, but I'm not sure. I don't have a clue what the pattern name is. Does anybody else have this piece, or know what the pattern is? I'm thinking that it just might look really good at Christmas dinner filled with a green bean casserole!

Welcome to Pyrex Collective I

There are more Pyrex lovers than this blog could accommodate, so we've created a second blog. Visit Pyrex Collective II and the newly minted Pyrex Collective III. If you'd like to be an author on PCIII, write me an email.